Flood country

by Robert Maddison

  A few minutes later a smiling minister emerged to greet Mark.

  ‘Mr Matthews, very nice to meet you. I only wish it were under different circumstances. Please, please come through,’ said Townsend.

  As he entered the office, another with sweeping views of the CBD and with the Harbour Bridge and Lunar Park on show here, Mark saw two men in suit and tie, rising out of dark green leather lounge chairs positioned around a large timber coffee table.

  ‘Can I introduce my senior advisor, Todd Marchant and Media Liaison Officer Matt Brown. Mr Matthews from ICAC, gentlemen,’ said the minister.

  Mark shook both their hands and then turned to Townsend. ‘I suppose Des Drummond told you what I’m here to discuss. No offence to your staff but this is a confidential conversation as part of our assessment enquiry. If we feel the need to formalise this into an inquiry your staffers will probably all be called to give evidence, so we wouldn’t want to compromise their objectivity, now would we, Minister,’ said Mark.

  ‘Oh, of course not, Mark. I just assumed that at this stage you would be keen to hear their views as well; but if not, that’s fine. Thank you gents,’ he said, dismissing Todd and Matt.

  After their departure, the minister said, ‘Now, tell me how I can help you with this wild goose chase you’re on, Mark?’

  ‘Why do you say that, Minister?’ queried Mark.

  ‘Please, call me Gary,’ he said, giving Mark a warm smile before continuing. ‘Well, basically because I have total faith in Des Drummond. He runs a tight ship and if he tells me he’s looked into this Wellsmore situation and there were no grounds to go any further, I’m inclined to believe him.’

  ‘I presume that since Mr Drummond advised you of my visit you’ve checked the Departmental briefing provided to you to be certain of that?’ probed Mark.

  ‘Yes, naturally we wanted to be certain nothing slipped by—a minister’s office is a very busy place as I’m sure you’d understand.’

  ‘I assume there will be no problem with me seeing any documentation relating to this accusation then,’ said Mark.

  ‘Of course not. I’ve asked Des Drummond to supply it to you—doesn’t seem to be any need for both of us to do that don’t you think?’

  Mark kept pushing, ‘I’d prefer to see your documents as well, thank you. Can they be provided first thing tomorrow?’

  ‘As you wish, but I’m certain you’ll find nothing untoward. I may need to run this by the premier of course. As I said before, Des Drummond has my complete confidence.’

  ‘Fine. Can you tell me what you know of the sudden sick leave taken by Peter Wellsmore?’ Mark continued, undaunted by the minister upping the stakes by drawing the premier into the matter.

  ‘Nothing. That’s a staffing matter. I don’t interfere in those issues. That’s what we pay Des to manage.’

  ‘But you did hear about him taking leave suddenly?’

  ‘I can’t say if it was sudden or not. As I said, I don’t meddle in staffing matters. That would be highly inappropriate,’ countered Townsend.

  Mark decided to change tack. ‘Have you, or anyone from this office, had any recent contact with John Burton, the local Member, over this matter?’

  ‘I can’t say with authority that none of my staff have. I certainly haven’t. Backbenchers often ring minister’s offices when a local issue arises. I can ask them if you wish,’ the minister stated, clearly gaining in confidence.

  Mark thought it was now time to rattle the cage. ‘Ok, I just have one final question and I can leave you in peace,’ he said with an angelic smile. ‘Do you know anyone from a company called GrowOz? It’s a big agribusiness subsidiary of the Goodacres multinational. It’s been suggested to us, and this is in strictest confidence you understand, that they may be involved in this in some way. GrowOz is a major land and water holder in the Dawson region. I need to know if you, or any of your staff, have been contacted by representatives of these companies in relation to this matter?’

  Mark was watching the minister’s reaction to this closely. He got what he was after. Townsend might be a seasoned politician but Mark had blindsided him and it showed as the colour momentarily drained from the minister’s face before he made a quick recovery. ‘Again, I can say with absolute certainty that I haven’t had any such contacts. I’ll need to check with my staff on that also.’

  ‘Thank you, Gary, but in this instance I’ll have to ask that you not do that. If this becomes an ICAC compulsory examination, as I expect, then your staff will be compelled to appear in private hearings and we can pursue that line of investigation then,’ Mark said, quietly but with clear intent.

  The minister glared at Mark, his anger barely controlled, before saying, ‘You can’t seriously believe that any of the accusations made by that angry old farmer have any basis. I’m told he’s well-known for his belligerent attitude toward the Water Department and for making outrageous and unsubstantiated claims. I think that perhaps you should be putting him under the microscope, not the hardworking and honest people working in that department and in this office.’

  ‘I’m just doing my job, Minister. We’ve received information that has convinced the assistant commissioner that this warrants investigation. Until such time as we can speak to all the others directly implicated, I can’t say much more for now.’ Mark stood up to leave.

  As he walked toward the door, he turned to face the minister. ‘I need to remind you that this conversation is to stay between us. Should you choose to advise the premier, as a courtesy, that’s your prerogative. If in our subsequent investigations we determine that you’ve passed on information to anyone else, you may well be charged with official misconduct or perverting the course of justice. Is that clear?’

  The minister nodded, his rising anger again clearly apparent. Ministers were often school bullies that got the chance to keep doing it—this one was no different, Mark thought as he walked out.

  Chapter 65

  As Mark was leaving the building, Todd and Matt were back talking with the minister. ‘This is serious,’ said Todd. ‘He really mentioned GrowOz and Goodacres? These ICAC guys have got lots more than we thought. It’s time for damage control.’

  ‘What can we do? It sounds like they’ve found the incriminating information we thought had been disposed of, doesn’t it?’ said Matt.

  ‘Or, maybe they’re bluffing?’ said the minister.

  ‘Could be, but can we afford to take the chance?’ asked Matt.

  ‘Goodacres is a major campaign supporter for us so we can’t just hang them out to dry,’ said Todd, sounding a little irritated.

  ‘If we tell Stannard about this he might send Vinnie out to cause havoc and that might backfire on us. Maybe we’re better off sitting tight and waiting to see if they are bluffing?’ said Matt.

  ‘I don’t agree. We should let them know now so any paper trail can be dealt with,’ fired back Todd.

  ‘I think Matt’s right on this, Todd. I suspect they’re laying baits out for us and the best thing is to call their bluff. To cover my arse I’ll let the premier know, although I’ll keep the details scant and tell him it’s nothing to worry about,’ concluded the minister.

  ‘But Gary,’ Todd started to object—the minister cut him off.

  ‘That’s final, Todd. You make sure we’re squeaky clean and then we wait. Understand?’ said Townsend with authority.

  ‘I’m not happy about it, but it’s your call. I’ll go see Des. We need him to play this very carefully,’ said Todd, rising to leave.

  As Todd was walking the few city blocks to see Des Drummond he called The Man. That familiar gruff, ‘What is it?’ was the greeting.

  ‘This call never happened, ok? ICAC are sniffing around this Wellsmore thing. They went to see Drummond and have just been to see Townsend. They told him to not tell anyone they’re investigating and they mentioned a possible connection with GrowOz and Goodacres,’ said Todd.

  ‘Are you bullshitting me?’ Stannard barked down th
e phone. ‘How did those ICAC pricks get involved?’

  ‘I don’t know. It’s still a preliminary enquiry, or whatever they call it, so they don’t have any firm evidence yet it seems. Townsend reckons it’s a fishing expedition and is telling us to do nothing for now.’

  ‘Appreciate the heads up, Todd. You play the game as Townsend wants but keep me in the loop. I’ll make it worth your while,’ said The Man.

  After hanging up from speaking to Todd, Stannard’s next call was to the private number of Sir Lawrence, the Chairman, who answered immediately. ‘I need to see you as soon as possible. We may have trouble and I’d prefer not discuss it over the phone.’

  ‘Let me see. Can you be here in an hour? I’ll postpone a boring meeting with a group of disgruntled shareholders,’ said Sir Lawrence.

  ‘Sure, I’ll see you then,’ said Stannard.

  Chapter 66

  In Dawson; Pip, Luke and Sharon had again taken the chopper out to Sunset Downs. Waiting for them on the veranda was Jack, his arm now out of the sling. As they approached, Sharon in her usual way said, ‘Hey, Jack, upset any multinationals lately?’ which brought a smile from Jack as he hugged her.

  ‘I owe you guys a lot—thank you so, so much for what you did to help get Jen back,’ he said.

  ‘Hey, it was nothing,’ said Pip also getting a hug from Jack, perhaps a little more prolonged. ‘It’s great to have you back, Jacky Boy.’

  Pip turned and said to Jack. ‘This is Luke Matthews—the happily married Hugh Jackman look-a-like copper friend of Sharon.’ She said this while glaring at Sharon and with that laugh Jack had missed so much.

  ‘Pleased to meet you, Jack,’ said Luke, shaking his hand. ‘Good to have you back on the scene.’

  ‘Not sure how much use I’ll be. The bloody shoulder is still giving me hell,’ he replied.

  Mike walked in the back door and shook Luke’s hand. ‘Good to see you again. Thanks for coming. We really need some official help,’ he said. ‘I’ve asked Charlie to join us—I’m worried that these mongrels might try something like they did with Jack’s kid when this gets really ugly.’

  Just then they heard a quad bike arriving and Charlie soon after walked in the back door and was introduced to Luke. They all sat around the old table. ‘The first thing we should discuss is your personal safety,’ said Luke. ‘As we’ve seen in Jack’s case, these people are quite ruthless; and as we continue to close in on them, they will probably come after someone else—and maybe their children—going on past form.’

  All heads turned to Charlie. ‘Look folks, we appreciate your concerns but Sandie and I have discussed this and she’s refusing to go hide somewhere. She’s taking time off work to be with the kids. And, she can shoot the head off a red-bellied black snake with a shotgun at 30 metres—so I’m thinking these guys might regret coming after our mob.’

  ‘If you say so, Charlie. Make sure she’s got that shotgun loaded and close by,’ said Mike.

  ‘I’m not overly happy about that, I have to say. Please make sure you stay close. Don’t leave the family unguarded is the best advice I can offer,’ said Luke. ‘Now, moving on, let’s call Mark and see what he’s got to tell us.’

  Mike brought the speaker phone to the dining room table and Luke called Mark who came on line immediately. ‘G’day Mark, Luke here, how’s it going?’

  ‘Not too bad, mate, how about you?’

  ‘I’ve got here with me Mike, Sharon, Pip, Mike’s son Charlie and Jack the prodigal son has returned as well,’ said Luke.

  ‘Hey, hi everyone, and Jack; what’s the story? I thought you’d decided to stay away after what they did to Jennifer,’ said Mark.

  ‘My family’s now safely tucked away so I thought I owed it to my friends to come back and help out,’ replied Jack.

  ‘Good for you. Look forward to meeting you soon,’ said Mark.

  Sharon decided she’d had enough of the pleasantries. ‘Listen, you blokes, where are we at with all this? Is there a new game plan?’

  Mark replied, ‘Thanks for getting us focussed, Sharon. I should say before we get serious that ICAC always gives it’s cases a name and this one we’ve named Operation Volturnus after the Roman god for water—very appropriate, don’t you think?’

  There were nods and mutterings of approval around the table and Mike shook his head, smiling.

  Continuing, Mark said, ‘Before Luke headed up there he and I agreed on a few first steps but I think we now need to plan out the next phase. Basically, because we lost the hard evidence Mary got on Wellsmore, we needed to shake them up a bit to see what might fall out. I went to see Des Drummond, the head of Water Resources, and he’s clearly nervous and not telling all he knows. I then went to see the Minister, Townsend, this morning and the same applies there. When I mentioned GrowOz and Goodacres he turned a very bad colour. I’m expecting my boss, the assistant commissioner, will be getting a call from the premier about now. Townsend will have gone into damage control and will be trying to cover his arse by hiding behind the premier. What I’m not sure of is if he will contact GrowOz or Goodacres. I warned him not too, but it’s hard to say how seriously he’ll take me. I also got some documents from Drummond about their investigation of your accusations, Mike, and how they’d briefed the minister on the issue. They’re a total smoke screen. I have no doubt they have been tampered with but we can come back later and deal with that little matter.’

  Then it was Luke’s turn. ‘Well, we’ve made some progress here too, Mark. First off; as you know, Pip and I saw the ute you guys photographed at the diversion site and followed it back to GrowOz, which didn’t really come as a shock. Then I went to see the local member, Burton, but didn’t tell him I’m a cop—said I was an old work mate of Wellsmore—to see if I could find out where he’s holed up. Discovered that Wellsmore’s stepdaughter, Lisa, is a new constable in Dawson so next I went to see her. She picked me as a cop—not surprisingly—and told me she’d spoken to Wellsmore but didn’t know where he was. When I left she was trying to call him again, but he wasn’t answering. I’m very worried about Wellsmore—he’s a loose end they may have decided is too risky to keep around.’

  Sharon, who’d taken it upon herself to chair this gathering, said, ‘Ok, thanks for the updates, guys. I’m trying to recall the list of five or six things from our meeting in Sydney that we agreed were the key unanswered questions. How are we going with following up on each of them?’

  Mark jumped back in. ‘I’ve got them here, Sharon. One was who approved Wellsmore’s sudden sick leave. That was Drummond and for now that looks squeaky clean on paper, although he struggled when I queried why someone so unwell would disappear.’ There were knowing looks exchanged around Mike’s dining table.

  ‘Two was how much does the local member know,’ Mark continued, and then Luke joined in.

  ‘He got a little anxious when I suggested Wellsmore had spoken to me about some bad stuff going on with work. Still not sure about this guy—I suspect he’s on the fringe of it, that’s all.’

  ‘I’m not so sure, guys,’ interjected Jack. ‘When I went to see him I got a feeling he was in the thick of this.’

  ‘Ok, we may need to go back and question him further in a day or two,’ conceded Mark. ‘Number three was where is Wellsmore now?’

  Luke replied. ‘As I said before, the stepdaughter doesn’t know. We’ve got to hope no-one else does either for his sake, I suspect. I haven’t heard from Lisa overnight or this morning which seems ominous. I’ve got to call her after this. I’m wondering if it was Wellsmore who worked out who the whistle-blower was and had her roughed up. We know he didn’t do it himself, as Mary would have recognised him. I’m not sure how he would have cottoned on to Mary being the one—maybe he checked computer or security records at the office.’

  ‘That’s it,’ said Sharon, suddenly very excited. ‘Of course that’s what he did. Mary had only spoken to her husband and you about this, Mike. Wellsmore must have sneaked back into the offic
e after he disappeared; and as the boss he’d have clearances to check people’s comings and goings and even what material they were looking at on the computer system. I’m no IT geek but even if Wellsmore deleted the material Mary copied on their system, I suspect it would still be in there in some deleted file or backup system. It’s almost impossible to totally delete anything these days, thanks to that wanker Bill Gates.’

  ‘You’re right Sharon, we need to get a warrant to go in there and impound their system so an expert can dig around for what we need,’ said Luke.

  ‘Not so easy, I’m afraid,’ said Mark. ‘Until we’ve got enough to get this escalated to a full inquiry I can’t get a warrant—it’s classic Catch 22.’

  ‘So are you saying that me being run off the road, Mike’s dog being shot, my daughter being kidnapped and Mary being beaten up aren’t enough?’ asked Jack, clearly agitated.

  ‘Sorry, Jack. A judge would look at those as circumstantial. It’s hard to get a search warrant these days unless there’s compelling evidence of a crime. We still need that evidence Mary found.’

  Luke sensed the need to move them on so said, ‘Mark, if we step back and look at this there has to be a ‘doer’—a go-between who’s making all these things happen. No-one from a Minister’s office or Goodacres would risk getting their hands dirty. There’s some tough guy out there we need to find. It might be our mate who drives the ute, or his offsider, so I suppose we might need to go see GrowOz and ask some questions about that ute and its owner. What do you think?’

  ‘Sounds like the go,’ responded Mark. ‘Does that mean you’re no longer staying undercover, Luke?’

  ‘I suppose not; so you may as well come up and we can go see Robertson at GrowOz together,’ said Luke.